Paul Ryan explains GOP’s 2012 loss

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that he and Mitt Romney lost in November in part because they were arguing against the “empty promises” of the not-yet-implemented Obamacare law.

“This was the challenge that Mitt Romney and I had in this last election … we had to argue against the promise and the rhetoric of President Obama,” he said in a speech at the Faith & Freedom “Road to Majority” conference in D.C. “The great soaring rhetoric, all of the empty promises.”

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“Remember in his first two years, he passed his big program, but he didn’t implement his program,” he continued, referring to Obamacare. “Now, in his second term, we’re seeing it implemented — and it’s pretty darn ugly.”

Ryan said the attendees of the Faith & Freedom conference constitute the political “mainstream” and need to work to “reclaim the center” in American politics.

“The left likes to think that we are the fringe. Guess what? You and I, we are the mainstream,” he said. “When you take a look at what’s happening, the goal we have in front of us is to reclaim the center of our politics.”